J a n i c e & B a n
F r o m t h e B r i d e …
The Meeting…
I met Ban when I was still in high school. I used to live overseas and every summer holidays I would come back to Melbourne and hang out with my sister and her friends. They went to university together and that’s how we met. I was the annoying little sister that tagged along to every party. Ban was quiet and he never spoke to me in the beginning! I, on the other hand, spoke too much, and in the end he had no choice but to reply.
Love…
Apparently all of our friends knew we had a thing for each other before we even did. We kept in touch every day while I was overseas and would spend hours chatting and playing online pool together. I think we were already in love by the time we started our relationship, because we were really comfortable with each other from the get go. There was no awkward ‘getting to know each other’ stage.
The Proposal…
December 2013 just before Christmas. I was in Taipei visiting family over the holidays and Ban surprised me by flying all the way there to propose. But before I knew he was there, he had organised a Legend of Zelda themed treasure hunt around the city (we are both geeky fans), which involved my sisters and shop keepers etc. He included all the places that had special meaning for both of us and the last clue led me to him. It was all very romantic and movie-like. I couldn’t say no even if I wanted to!
Wedding Style…
I had always imagined having a beach wedding and dancing to reggae music, but seeing as we lived in Melbourne and the weather is always extremely unpredictable, we quickly changed our minds. We both really wanted our dogs to be there, for it to be outdoors in a garden setting and for it to be really relaxed and fun for all of our guests.
Ceremony…
On a private property in Healesville called Tara Rise. The owners sister held a wedding there and her photos were posted on a blog. We loved how casual & intimate the whole space was. We also chose it because our dogs were allowed on the property! It’s very hard to find a wedding venue in Victoria that allows pets!
Reception…
Also at Tara Rise. They had an amazing and large main lawn with a massive tree in the middle which we decorated with fairy lights. We had hay bales, and picnic rugs and lawn games spread all around the space for people to relax and have some fun between the ceremony and the reception.
The Dress…
My gown was by the amazing British designer Claire Pettibone! I found it at this bridal boutique in Brighton called Intique & Co. (now known as Closet White). I hadn’t planned on purchasing a gown on that particular day, but Intique was having a Claire Pettibone trunk show and I thought why not, might as well try. I really wanted to have a relaxed, no fuss dress that I could move and eat in and Claire Pettibone’s gowns absolutely fitted that criteria! I tried on my dress and Liz, who accompanied me to every single bridal shop, told me I just had to buy it because it suited my shape and personality so perfectly!
Bridesmaids…
All the bridesmaids wore ivory, but they all had a different style of dress that suited their shape and height. They were all extremely different in personality and style and I didn’t want to restrict them with the usual bridesmaid gear. I wanted to make sure they all felt like a million bucks!
Groom + Groomsmen…
I loved what the groomsmen wore because none of them were huge fashionistas, but they all looked so handsome and dapper on the day! They all wore navy trousers from Calibre, a white shirt from Rhodes and Beckett with their sleeves rolled up, tan leather suspenders and shoes, and they all had different patterned grey bow ties to match Ban’s outfit. They also wore personalised leather cuff magnets to hold up their rolled up sleeves. It all looked so good together!
Ban wore an amazing grey vest and suit pants by Ted Baker with a white shirt also by Rhodes and Beckett. With the same cuff magnets and tan shoes as the other boys and a navy tie, and bow tie from M. J Bale to tie in with the groomsmen. He looked so incredibly handsome!
Flowers…
All I knew was that I loved the look of peonies and they weren’t in season during February. I showed Amy from Wunderplant a couple of photos of what I liked and had envisioned and she whipped her magic fingers and put it together for us. It was amazing!
Decorations…
As the planning process evolved, we some how ended up with a lot of peaches, greys , greens and natural colors. Drawing inspiration from the venue itself, we leaned towards a lot of rustic/vintage inspirations mixed in with modern textiles.
We organised the seating as two long tables down the length of the marquee instead of individual tables. We didn’t have a separate ‘bridal’ table so we just placed ourselves and the bridal party along one side of a long table because Ban and I wanted to be a part of the party, not separated and looking in on everyone. We also didn’t want to group guests into separate tables and make people feel less important because all of our guests were really important people in our lives!
For the marquee, we hung festoon lights all along the ceiling and joined them to the giant tree in the middle of the lawn. Amy created these amazing giant gum ball floral installations that hung down from the center of the roof. They looked absolutely stunning!! She also used foliage/greenery as a table runner down the center of the two long tables, and instead of making individual pots of flowers, she made low floral arrangements that blended in with the foliage table runners. Everything looked really organic, which is what we were aiming for!
The entire venue had fairy lights and festoon lights running through the trees and above the dance floor to create a ‘Midsummer Nights Dream’ kind of atmosphere. It all looked magical by nightfall!
A lot of the little decorations, bunting, signs etc. were all home made! It was a very hands on and crafty wedding! My favourite detail was the scratchy sticker on the back of the guests seating card which revealed the table they were sitting at! I used to be a graphic designer so all of the hand lettering was done by me. It was a lot of fun, but also a lot of work!
On the Menu…
We hired a food truck and served our reception buffet style! The amazing food was by Digging For Fire BBQ kitchen, with mouth watering South American inspired style food and drinks served by Beer Gypsies with their craft beer specialties. We wanted everyone to be up and about, mingling and chatting and thought a buffet style reception and mobile bar would be the best way to get people out of their seats and enjoying the gardens.
Bomboniere…
We wanted everything to be very personal and practical so we hand made different flavoured soaps and stamped our own logo and a silhouette of our corgi on it. It was totally a labour of love because it took a loooooong time to make!
Photography…
We chose 35mm Wedding Photography because THEY ARE AWESOME and so incredibly talented! I met Lyndel and Daniel through work and have always admired their style of photography and all of their work. There was no question about it when it came time to choose a photographer for our day. It was one of the first things we organised! They are also incredibly nice and fun to be around. We hate having our photos taken, but it was totally fine on the day!
We love everything about them! All the candid shots! I love how they captured all the small details from the day. Everything looks so beautiful and makes us feel nostalgic every time we look at it, which is exactly what wedding photos are supposed to do!
Memories…
The entire day was so memorable and so much fun. We forgot a lot of little things, but to us it was still perfect. I do remember just Ban dancing A LOT throughout the night and him and I dancing by ourselves at the end of the night with most of our guests already gone. He never, ever dances so for me that was very special, a lot of fun and something I wont ever forget because I will probably never see it again!! I will also never ever forget the speeches. We told our friends not to hold back or censor anything, so there were some pretty thunderous laughs!
Accomodation…
We rented a beautiful property down the road from the venue called Botanica Editions owned by Karen Dickson & Greg Palmer. They have two beautiful little cottages. We rented one for the bridesmaids the night before and one for us the night of the wedding. It was a wonderful stay, with amazing gardens and a giant willow tree in the middle. Karen was an amazing host and we even received a plant as a welcome gift to take home with us. I would highly recommend anyone to go stay there just to experience their hospitality.
Wedding Songs…
We had a wide range of music on our wedding day. We love motown & soul music so there was a lot of Al Green, Gladys Knight, Sam Cooke & Stevie Wonder etc. during the canapés and then it moved into a lot of daggy 90’s rnb and hip hop. All our guests were from that generation and older so we got a kick out of listening and reminiscing to old music and being silly on the dance floor.
Stevie Wonder- You are the Sunshine of my Life
Hozier- Like real people do
John Mayer- Stop this Train
Stevie Wonder- Sign Sealed Delivered
John Legend- Stay with you
Honeymoon…
We went to Tasmania for two nights for a mini moon and unwind after our international guests left Melbourne. We will be going to Tahiti after visiting my family in July. I can’t wait!
The Future…
To live a long life together full of laughs, adventures, ups & downs and have a family full of dogs. To travel the world together, grow old and drive a double buggy together down our neighbourhood streets when we are too fat and lazy to walk any longer.
Photographer 35mm Wedding Photographer Celebrant Janet Hussey Ceremony + Reception Venue Tara Rise Bride’s Dress Closet White (Formerly Intique & Co) Brides Makeup: Myself Brides Hair and Bridesmaid & Family Makeup: Monica Gingold Bridesmaid Hair: Victoria Hull @victoria_mua_ Flowers: Wunderplant (Amy Wright) Prop Florals Sugarbee Flowers Wedding Day Coordinator: Ashleigh K Weddings Furniture Hire: Betta Party Hire Props Hire: My Sweet Event Hire + The Georgeous Store + Nomad Styling Catering: Digging For Fire BBQ Kitchen Dessert Catering: LuxBite Wedding Cake Liz Reinehr (bridesmaid)Drinks Catering: Beer Gypsies Band The Baker Boys
MW x